A standoff on Creole Street in Lake Charles ended Saturday night with an officer fatally shooting 28-year-old Khylin Stevens after he barricaded himself inside a residence and, police say, produced a weapon. Lake Charles Police Department officers had responded to the 2300 block of Creole Street following a 911 call, and the confrontation stretched on for hours before the gunfire.
According to Louisiana State Police, officers engaged in extended negotiations with Stevens and used several less-lethal measures before an LCPD officer discharged a service weapon, striking him. Stevens was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. No officers were injured during the incident, per the same release. Local station KPLC 7 News reported that the standoff involved a specialized Lake Charles Police Department SWAT team rollout that lasted for several hours before the fatal shooting.
State Detectives Take Over the Investigation
The Lake Charles Police Department formally requested that the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations take over the inquiry, a request made shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday night. Under Louisiana law enforcement standards, municipal departments routinely hand off officer-involved shooting investigations to state police to avoid potential conflicts of interest, according to research compiled by the LSU Law Digital Commons. LSP detectives identified the deceased as Stevens, a Lake Charles resident, and the investigation remains active.
Louisiana State Police Troop D, headquartered on Main Street in Lake Charles, serves five parishes across Southwest Louisiana and is handling regional public affairs for the case through its assigned troopers. Trooper Roy Jones is listed as the Troop D public affairs contact for the investigation. Anyone with information, photos, or video is urged to share it with LSP detectives, either through the agency's online reporting system or by calling the LSP Fusion Center hotline at 1-800-434-8007.
Open Questions and Local Scrutiny
Several details remain unresolved, including the specific type of weapon Stevens produced, the exact non-lethal measures attempted during the negotiations, and whether body-worn or dash camera footage captured the standoff. Louisiana State Police has said it may release additional information as the investigation progresses.
The shooting comes amid heightened scrutiny of both agencies involved. The Lake Charles Police Department, led by Chief Shawn Caldwell since 2018 and responsible for policing more than 80,000 residents across 40 square miles, faced a delayed reappointment vote for Caldwell in February 2025 after state Representative Wilford Carter Sr. raised constituent complaints about officer conduct, excessive force claims, and department diversity, as reported by the American Press. Separately, a January 2025 U.S. Department of Justice investigation concluded that Louisiana State Police had engaged in a statewide pattern of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, prompting reforms including a new Force Investigation Unit.
This is not the first time Louisiana State Police has stepped in to investigate a local officer-involved shooting in Lake Charles. In a March 2025 case, state investigators looked into a deputy-involved shooting that left one person injured with no deputies harmed. Troop D and its Lake Charles Field Office have also been active in other recent operations, including a July drug enforcement effort that recovered 6.5 pounds of methamphetamine and illegal firearms in Calcasieu Parish.
Family records from Fondel Memorial Chapel indicate Stevens was a native of Lake Charles whose younger brother, Kalin Jemel Stevens, died in June 2025 at age 23. The Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations continues to work the case, and the agency can be reached at 337-491-2511 or by email at [email protected] for those with additional information.
